BANI WALID, Libya, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A bullet-scarred
barracks, scorched and abandoned like the ageing tanks guarding
its shattered gateway, was all that remained on Tuesday of what
passed for the Libyan government's grip on Bani Walid.

But a day after townsmen put to flight a force loyal to the
Western-backed interim administration in Tripoli, elders in the
desert city, once a bastion of support for Muammar Gaddafi,
dismissed accusations they wanted to restore the late dictator's
family to power or had any ambitions beyond their local area.

"Allegations of pro-Gaddafi elements in Bani Walid, this is
not true," said Miftah Jubarra, who was among dozens of leading
citizens gathered at a local mosque to form a municipal council
now that nominal representatives from the capital have fled.

"In the Libyan revolution, we have all become brothers,"
Jubarra told Reuters. "We will not be an obstacle to progress."
Continued...